Warning – this chapter contains spoilers

This is the first commentary I’ve ever written, so if I jump from point to point in a nonsensical fashion, please don’t hold it too much against me ;-)

Well, as of this writing, I just finished “Like Shattered Glass” in all its 381 page glory. It’s the longest story I’ve ever written (of my three total Redwall fanfics and my two Secret of NIMH fanfics) and it’s the story I’m the most proud of.

I started writing “The Strings Snapped” (the first in this trilogy) back in October 2003. My freshman year of college here at Ohio University. If you have to know one thing about OU, know that it has more squirrels per square foot than any other place in the United States (except maybe Washington, D.C.). All these squirrels, and the Redwall story of Felldoh, gave me the character inspiration for Quinlan, who jump started that first fanfic.

By the time I started writing “TSS”, I’d only read two Redwall books: “Triss” and “Martin the Warrior.” I knew that Triss took place after all the other Redwall books, so I figured I’d play it safe and have my story start right when Triss’ daughter, Triss II, dies.

It was always my goal to make the world of Redwall more realistic – by making it a big place with known cities (such as Gair and Aisling) and having Redwall and Salamandastron be involved in the country’s political concerns. It seemed to make perfect sense that Mossflower would have political concerns, especially this late in the Redwall timeline. The way I see it, a lot’s happened between the time of Martin the Warrior and the ‘modern’ times that I write about. It’d make sense that the world of Mossflower would evolve, just as any real society would evolve.

Quinlan was my vessel to show this – I gave him a quest that would require him to go to these new and strange places, and a quest that would make him question the fundamental theology of Redwall itself.

Now, the name “Quinlan” – I love that name. I got it from the graphic novel “Road to Perdition”. It’s the name of a gambling ship that Michael O’Sullivan robs and then blows up. I wished they’d put that in the movie. Only after I posted a few chapters of “TSS” did I realize that there was an old television show called “Doctor Quinn: Medicine Woman.” Yes, it seems that Quinn is female, and “Quin” doesn’t exist at all. At least according to the spell-checker in MS Word.

Anyway, Kenosh’s name comes from the PC game “Gabriel Knight 3.” Kenosh Kaneya was a phrase used to describe the second coming, so to speak, and that kind of fit into Kenosh’s tale of redemption – So Kenosh was born. And you’ll also note that I took the second word and made that Kenosh’s daughter’s name. Clever old me.

Hardin now – Hardin is the one I’m most proud of. When I write, I never plan ahead. Everything just flows naturally, kind of like real life. I’ll let the dialogue flow out naturally and see where it takes the characters. But with Hardin, I actually sat down and throught his stuff out well in advance.

By the time I started writing “Like Shattered Glass” – around March 2004 – I’d plowed through “The Taggerung.” Like most Redwall readers, I was sorely disappointed in not just the ending, but the character of The Taggerung itself. It seems whenever Brian Jacques gets a great idea, he never dives into it very far.

So I thought “hey, wait, under normal circumstances, The Taggerung’s a vermin, right?” Then I realized that a vermin Taggerung, with none of the scruples that Deyna had, would be such an awesome villain. Plus, I love kilts. Part Prince of Persia, part Deyna, part Hannibal Lecter. Hardin was born.

There have been a few questions about “Like Shattered Glass”, so I’ll address them here.

The Red Warrior of Redwall is imbued with the Bloodwrath – Brian Jacques used it as a writing technique to make his warriors seem a lot more dangerous than they did when they weren’t fighting. For example, a warrior’s all nice and cheery, then he starts fighting and in a flash, a million bad guys are dead. That’s a bit extreme, I know.

In any case, the Bloodwrath, in my stories, is equal to the the spirit of Martin assisting the warrior. Not exactly becoming the warrior, but adding his skill to the warrior’s own. Martin was not a flawless warrior, we know that much (he got torn up and beaten down quite a bit), but he was determined. Whenever a warrior refuses to just stay down, you can bet that Martin’s got something to do with it.

Quinlan could have definitely lost that final battle, no questions asked, but through a combination of skill and luck, and a little help from the warrior spirit of Martin, Quinlan emerged victorious.

As for Vulpuz’s little vendetta against Hardin – there are many ways to explain it.

Vulpuz is the Juska God of War. As such, Vulpuz wishes for there to forever be conflict between woodlanders and vermin. Hardin’s ultimate goal was to rid the world of war, and so Vulpuz sent his messengers to take him back to the Hellgates.

Vulpuz is the Juska God of War. As such, Vulpuz follows a strict set of guidelines for warfare, just like the Greek gods did in Homer’s epic poems. Hardin follows his own rules, however, and kills indiscriminately. The Hellgates and Dark Forest are filling up with many beasts who, by all accounts, should still remain alive. Vulpuz is tasked to bring Hardin down.

There is no Vulpuz. There is no afterlife vendetta. There is merely a group of spiders that have become attracted to Hardin because of the unordinary amount of blood that is forever soaked into his fur.

There are more ways, but I like these three the best.

The story of Quinlan and his successors will continue. Calder’s next adventure, entitled “The Chronicles of Oblivion” tentatively, is in the works.

If you’re interested in the story of Quinlan and Hardin, or how Ebralter became married into the famous Nightson mercenary family, be sure to check our Eroket’s “Blood on the Snow” and “Shards” accompaniments, as well as his “Shadows and Blood” trilogy that follows the Nightson and Nightblade mercenaries in the far northern territories of Mossflower.

A joint-authored fic between Ero and myself entitled “Steel and Flame” is in the works, and explains events between “Like Shattered Glass” and “Chronicles of Oblivion.”

I’d like to thank all my reviewers and readers for their support, and a special thanks goes out to Eroket for being my beta reader and always showing constant support as I made my way through this fic, and my other two before it.

I’d also like to thank the music that helped inspire my characters and scenes – from Trevor Rabin to Yasunori Mitsuda to Danny Elfman to Basil Poledouris to John Debney, and above all, to Don Davis for “Neodammerung” (which I wrote the final battle to) and Richard Jacques for his score to “Headhunter”. This fic wouldn’t have been possible without the music.